Metro Sports Report

Kernels will go as far as pitching carries them

There is one common denominator when looking at a team's prospects no matter what the level of baseball.

Pitching.

Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Jake Mauer assessed his club Tuesday. He talked about an exciting corps of youngsters led by center fielder Byron Buxton and a solid group of veterans. Then he got to the bottom-line.

"To be honest, it will be like anything," Mauer said from his Veterans Memorial Stadium office. "It will depend on how our pitchers do.

"If we keep the ball down and get the boys off the field, we should be as good as anybody."

Dorrington era begins for Xavier soccer

With a major milestone behind them, the Xavier girls soccer team began a fresh era Tuesday under a new coach but lots of veteran players.

First-year coach Bailey Dorrington, 24, is hardly a stranger to the program since she was an assistant last year and a four-year starter for the Saints before graduating in 2007.

In her freshman year, Xavier won its first state championship. Following a runner-up finish in 2005, it reeled off seven straight titles over the next seven years.

Triulzi helps surging Eagles to sweep

Every successful ballclub needs a bulldog in the bullpen, somebody who's fearless and wants the ball with the game on the line.

Meet Jake Triulzi, a stocky lefthander from the St. Louis suburbs who is excelling as the closer for the Kirkwood Eagles this season.

Triulzi picked up another save Tuesday and kept his ERA at 0.00 as Kirkwood swept a doubleheader from Marshalltown, 7-4 and 10-6, on another chilly day at Kirkwood.

The Eagles, riding a seven-game winning streak, raised their record to 16-2.

Buxton coming to town with Kernels

The 25-man roster for the 2013 Cedar Rapids Kernels features six of the Twins' Top 30 Prospects, according to Baseball America, and includes 2012 first-round selection Byron Buxton, a talented outfielder with speed.

In addition to Buxton as the Twins' No.2 Top Prospect, the roster also includes lefthanded pitcher Mason Melotakis (No.13 top prospect), shortstop Jorge Polanco (No.14), third baseman Travis Harrison (No.17), righthanded pitcher Tyler Jones (No.23) and infielder Niko Goodrum (No.26).

The Kernels' pitching staff features four hurlers who spent the whole 2012 season in the Midwest League at Beloit (Tim Atherton, Steven Gruver, David Hurlbut and Tyler Jones), plus three others (Melotakis, Taylor Rogers and Matt Tomshaw) who spent at least part of 2012 with the Snappers when Beloit was affiliated with Minnesota.